MY MAKEUP & BEAUTY SECRETS

Monday, 17 February 2014

I’ve been trying to write this post
for a long time but for some I kept postponing it… My idea is to share with you
my beauty ritual and makeup secrets from the moment I wake up in the morning
till I go back to bed at night.

For a woman like me, who at some
stage had skin problems (and I’m sure most of us, including men of course), it
is very important to have a very strict cleaning ritual and use products that
actually help us to keep those unwanted issues away. I would love to say that
all I do to keep my skin healthy and looking pretty is drinking 8 glasses of
water a day and sleeping 10 hours every night, but no, at least for me that’s
not enough (and most of the time not even possible), especially when you have a
busy life and cannot rest as much as you need to. I do drink a lot of water, but
unfortunately I can only sleep more than 8 hours during weekends or holidays.
So, how do I take care of my skin? Here’s the secret:

IN THE MORNING…

Every
morning I wash my face with a neutral soap (nothing fancy, I get it at the
dermatologist) and then apply Clinique’s Clarifying Lotion 2. Next is the most delicate part of our
face, and I take care of it with All
About Eyes Rich, it’s very creamy and you can feel how your skin gets
moisture immediately. This next step I do it specially after summer, because
with all the sun exposure the skin tends to stain, so I apply the Even Better Clinical Dark Spot
Corrector, you cannot imagine how it has improved my skin tone, 100%
recommended! Finally the new Superdefense
Daily Defense Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 20, which has been a
great finding for me because it is not greasy or clog pores and has
something very important for me, the SPF (never underestimate the power of
sunblock on your skin). Now I’m ready for makeup.

As
important as the skin care products, choosing the right makeup is critical
for our skin health. There’re so many products out there and so much
advertising, that you can easily fall for the wrong ones. I think I’ve
tried every single makeup brand on the market and it was always so
disappointing till I finally found the right one for me. I tested a
product at the time, and as I was seeing the results I started
incorporating new ones. It was not easy (and very frustrating I must say),
but I finally have a set of products that I can wear with all confidence.

Makeup Foundation:
Oh My Dior! I’ve seen everything! Girls, please, the most important part
of your makeup is the base, and it should be soft, non-greasy or lumpy
and the closer to your skin tone as possible. I cannot imagine something
worse than a white girl with a brown face because she’s trying to look
beyond tanned with her makeup (or the opposite); I can’t even find the
words to describe how bad it looks. In my case, to make sure I don’t look
like a clown and to avoid all those inconvenient situations, I use Le Teint Touche Éclat from Yves Saint Laurent, it’s amazing
how it perfectly adapts to your skin and look so natural, conceals
imperfections and brings so much light to you face. Initially I was using
a sponge to apply it, but then I discovered that is much better with the
fingers and it also avoids unnecessary waste.

Eye Shadow: I tend
not to use eye shadow in the morning to try look as “natural” as
possible, but from time to time I apply a little bit of light pink or
pearl shadow to give some light to my eyes and the difference is quite
noticeable. For this I don’t have a special brand preference, I like MAC, Chanel, KIKO, Bobbi Brown
and many others.

Powder: For a long
time I used Elizabeth Arden,
but since I was getting such amazing results with YSL, I decided to give it a try and went for the Poudre Compacte Radiance, and I
cannot be more satisfied; it gives me that luminous and natural finish that lasts
all day.

Eyebrows and Eye Lashes:
As you might have noticed I have very big (ok, let’s say huge) eyes, and
of course is the part of my face that I try to get most out of. Luckily I
was blessed with very good eyebrows, so I only use a special makeup for
eyebrows to fill the blanks and give a better definition to the natural
shape; the one I have is from EBEL
and has to be one of the best gifts I’ve ever got; it has to be like 7 or
even more years old and it’s still like new (thank you Karla btw). Now
the mascara… This has been a nightmare for me, but I finally found one
that works perfectly for me, the brand is not very famous (LashGASM), but it gives a lot of
volume to my lashes and leaves no lump.

My Best Kept Secret:
It was the first product I tried from YSL and the reason why I decided to try the rest of the
products. I’m talking about the Touche
Éclat. It’s like magic (no joke). This highlighter makes dark
circles, fine lines and signs of fatigue virtually disappear. Another
great thing about this product is that it isn’t only for the eyes, i.e.
when I’m doing a night makeup I use it around my lips to create the
illusion of having bigger lips. You can forget about everything I’ve been
talking you about in this post, but this one is definitely worth trying.

Blush: The final
touch is in the cheeks and during the day we need to be very careful with
this, so try going for a color that looks natural and sassy. I’m a very
girly girl so I use MAC’sCremeblend Blush in “Something
Sweet” shade. I love how it makes me look like I’m slightly blushed and
as it doesn’t have any shine is perfect for the day. Just a little amount
in the cheeks (not the cheekbone) and I’m ready!

Lips: This one is optional for me, sometimes with a lip balm is
enough, but if I want to add some color I use Matte Please Me from MAC;
it’s so sweet and pink, I love it!

AT NIGHT…

If you’re still awake, we can now
go to my night ritual… It is very similar to the morning but we just need to
add a couple of steps. The first thing is to remove the makeup (one product for
the face, one product for the eyes). For eyes and lips I use Clinique’sTake The Day Off Makeup Remover and for the face the Take The Day Off Cleansing Milk. It is
very important to use a soft makeup remover for the eyes to avoid redness and
damaging the delicate skin in that zone and the subsequent wrinkles. Then I
apply the clarifying lotion (unless the makeup was really heavy, in that case I
wash my face as well) and finish with the same steps from the morning (Eyes and
Face Moisturizers). Every other day I add a small step between cleaning and
applying the clarifying lotion, that makes a huge difference; I scrub my face
using what has been one of my best allies for years, St. IvesApricot Scrub.
It removes all the dead skin and unclog pores to avoid those hated pimples,
plus it makes my skin so soft. AND THAT IS IT!

I know that it sounds like I spend
half of my life in the bathroom between makeup and cleaning, but the truth is
that once you get used to it, it becomes a really quick process, and even
quicker if don’t need to apply makeup. Specially at night, for me is like a
little moment to pamper myself and do nothing else but taking care of me, and I
really enjoy it (unless I’m too tired, but I do it anyway).